Conventionally, multiple discrete controllers are utilized to allow a user to control a control target having more than three degrees of freedom. Furthermore, multiple discrete controllers have been required for any conventional control system that controls a control target having six degrees of freedom. For example, a set of independent controllers or input devices (e.g., joysticks, control columns, cyclic sticks, foot pedals, and/or other independent controllers as may be known by one or more of ordinary skill in the art) may be provided to receive a variety of different rotational parameters (e.g., pitch, yaw, and roll) from a user for a control target (e.g., an aircraft, submersible vehicles, spacecraft, a control target in a virtual environment, and/or a variety of other control targets as may be known by one or more of ordinary skill in the art). Similarly, a set of independent controllers may be provided to control other navigational parameters such as translation (e.g., x-, y-, and z-axis movement) in a three-dimensional (3D) space, velocity, acceleration, and/or a variety of other command parameters.
U.S. patent application Ser. Nos. 13/797,184 and 15/071,624, respectively filed on Mar. 12, 2013, and Mar. 16, 2016, which are both incorporated herein by reference in their entireties, describe several embodiments of a control system that allows a user to control a control target in up to six degrees of freedom (6-DOF) simultaneously and independently, using a single controller. In one embodiment, a unified hand controller may include a first control member for receiving rotational inputs (e.g., pitch, yaw, and roll) and a second control member that extends from the first control member and that is for receiving translational inputs (e.g., movement along x, y, and z axes). The first control member and the second control member on the unified hand controller may be repositioned by a user using a single hand to control the control target in 6-DOF. Vital to precise and intuitive control is knowledge of when a command is being issued in a particular degree of freedom and when it is not. Each independent controller provides tactile feedback to the user, such that s/he knows when inputs are being made in up to six degrees of freedom motion, simultaneously and independently.